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Bailey captures AL rookie award

Bailey captures AL rookie award

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By Mychael Urban
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MLB.com |

OAKLAND -- A's right-hander Andrew Bailey got the call from New York at 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday and was told to "keep it under wraps."

He assumed, however, that it was safe to let his parents in on the secret: His rise from Minor League obscurity to Major League limelight turned historic when he was named the American League's 2009 Rookie of the Year.

"My dad couldn't believe it," Bailey told MLB.com by phone shortly after the announcement. "He had been reading all these articles about who had voted for who, and everyone kind of thought Elvis [Andrus of the Rangers] was going to win. So when I told him, he was like, 'No way. Are you kidding? Really?'

"When I called my mom, she just started laughing. And then she started crying."

Andrus, Texas' acrobatic 21-year-old shortstop, finished second in the voting, which was carried out by selected members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Bailey, 25, posted 26 saves -- no other AL rookie reliever had more than two -- with a 1.84 ERA, also the best among AL rookies. He was listed first on 13 ballots submitted by two writers in each AL city, second on six and third on five to score 88 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system.

Andrus, who batted .267 and led AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8), total bases (179) and stolen bases (33), placed first on eight ballots, second on six and third on seven for 65 points -- one point more than Tigers righty starter Rick Porcello (14-9, 3.96 ERA), who was first on seven ballots, second on eight and third on five for 64 points.

A's lefty starter Brett Anderson finished sixth in the voting, picking up one second-place vote and one third-place vote.

2009 AL roy voting

"There were so many rookies who had great years, it's an amazing honor," Bailey said while scurrying to the airport for an afternoon flight to Oakland, where he'll be featured at a press conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT.

"And I think it's really cool that we had two guys in the mix, with Brett being kind of a darkhorse. He had an incredible year, too."

Bailey is the second Oakland closer to win in the past five elections; Huston Street won it in 2005. Other closers elected were Gregg Olson of the Orioles in 1989 and Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Mariners in '00. Yankees pitcher Dave Righetti was a starter when he won the award in '81.

"I kind of thought Andrus was going to win, too," Bailey said. "He was awesome, and he plays every day."

Including shortstop Bobby Crosby's honor in 2004, this marks the third time in six seasons that an A's player has won the rookie award and the eighth time overall, tying the Yankees for the most winners in the league.

Moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen at Double-A Midland at midseason in 2008, Bailey didn't just make a successful transition to relief work. He made the transition look like a breeze.

After dominating during the second half of the 2008 season at Midland, he following suit in the prestigious Arizona Fall League and did the same in his first trip to big league Spring Training.

Named to the 25-man roster in part because projected closer Joey Devine was out with an elbow injury that resulted in season-ending surgery, Bailey was handed a low-stress role in the season's first several weeks but steadily climbed the ladder of responsibility.

He picked up his first save in early May and eventually took over as the full-time closer, converting his final 21 save opportunities dating to June 17.

"We didn't give him the job," pitching coach Curt Young said in September. "He took it."

Named the Athletics' lone representative at the All-Star Game in St. Louis this summer, Bailey broke Street's Oakland rookie record for saves and posted a 6-3 record with a 0.88 WHIP and 91 strikeouts against 24 walks in 83 1/3 innings over 68 appearances. Opponents batted .167 against Bailey, who surrendered 47 hits

"Andrew," said A's catcher Kurt Suzuki, "was amazing."

Bailey, who is sharing an apartment with his fiancée, Amanda, in Hamden, Conn., this winter, said he was "shocked" when he got Monday's big news.

"It's kind of hard to believe still," he said. "It's crazy. There's about 100 people trying to get through on my phone right now, so everyone's pretty excited about it. I really tried not to think too much about it after the season because it was out of my hands. All you can do is put up your numbers and hope that's good enough.

"I guess this means it was. It's incredible. I'm still shaking."

National Awards

ASG MVP

Roberto Clemente

AL Manager of Year

Terry Steinbach

1988

Dave Stewart

1990

Tony LaRussa

1988

Tony LaRussa

1992

ALCS MVP

Outstanding DH

Hutch Award

Dennis Eckersley

1988

Dave Kingman

1984

Carney Lansford

1992

Rickey Henderson

1989

Dave Parker

1989

Jason Giambi

2000

Dave Stewart

1990

World Series MVP

Joe Cronin Award

Rolaids Relief

Gene Tenace

1972

Rickey Henderson

1982

Dennis Eckersley

1988

Reggie Jackson

1973

Jose Canseco

1988

Dennis Eckersley

1992

Rollie Fingers

1974

Dave Stewart

1990

Billy Koch

2002

Dave Stewart

1989

AL MVP

ROY

AL Cy Young

Lefty Grove

1931

Harry Byrd

1952

Vida Blue

1971

Jimmie Foxx

1932

Jose Canseco

1986

"Catfish" Hunter

1974

Jimmie Foxx

1933

Mark McGwire

1987

Bob Welch

1990

Bobby Shantz

1952

Walt Weiss

1988

Dennis Eckersley

1992

Vida Blue

1971

Ben Grieve

1998

Barry Zito

2002

Reggie Jackson

1973

Bobby Crosby

2004

Jose Canseco

1988

Huston Street

2005

Rickey Henderson

1990

Andrew Bailey

2009

Dennis Eckersley

1992

Jason Giambi

2000

Miguel Tejada

2002

Rawlings Gold Glove

Joe Rudi

1974

Joe Rudi

1975

Joe Rudi

1976

Dwayne Murphy

1980

Mike Norris

1980

Rickey Henderson

1981

Dwayne Murphy

1981

Mike Norris

1981

Dwayne Murphy

1982

Dwayne Murphy

1983

Dwayne Murphy

1984

Alfredo Griffin

1985

Dwayne Murphy

1985

Mark McGwire

1990

Eric Chavez

2001

Eric Chavez

2002

Eric Chavez

2003

Eric Chavez

2004

Eric Chavez

2005

Local Awards

Jim "Catfish" Hunter Award

Year

Tim Hudson

2004

Mark Ellis

2005, 2007

Jason Kendall

2006

Mike Sweeney

2008

Kurt Suzuki

2009

Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.